Tim Allen has shared his unfiltered thoughts on the new Toy Story spin-off movie, Lightyear.
The 69-year-old Toy Story actor, perhaps best known by younger audiences for being the original voice of Buzz Lightyear, is finally weighing in on the continued discussion surrounding Pixar’s recent revival of the character he helped make famous.
Allen revealed that he "stayed out" conversations regarding the movie during an interview with Extra on Wednesday (June 29), but that didn't stop him from disclosing his honest feelings.
The Home Improvement star explained that while he enjoyed the story, he couldn't help but criticize the film's lack of continuity with the adored Toy Story franchise.
Watch his Extra interview below:"I've stayed out of this," Allen said before revealing that he had a conversation with Pixar creatives years ago about potentially exploring Buzz’s origins.
"As I’ve said a long time ago, we talked about this many years ago," Allen recalled. "It came up in one of the sessions; I said what a fun movie that would be."
Lightyear, which fueatures Avengers star Chris Evans as the voice behind the titular space ranger, was directed by Angus MacLane, who wrote and directed the 2011 theatrical short Toy Story Toon: Small Fry and the 2013 ABC Halloween special Toy Story of Terror.
The animation marks the first feature film in the franchise that does not credit the Pixar co-founder, John Lasseter - who directed the first two Toy Story films and did not return to the company following allegations of sexual misconduct in 2017.
"We talked about this many years ago, but the brass that did the first four movies is not this. It's a whole new team that really had nothing to do with the first movies," Allen continued, although he didn’t name anyone specifically.
The Santa Claus actor said that when he heard they were making a live-action film about Buzz Lightyear, he thought it was a film with "real humans, not an animated thing."
He called himself "a plot guy" and said he expected Lightyear to "be a big adventure story," adding, "as I see [it], it’s not a big adventure story. It’s a wonderful story. It just doesn’t seem to have any connection to the toy."
Allen concluded that the new Pixar film has no relation to the beloved franchise: "It has no relationship to Buzz. It’s just no connection. I wish there was a better connection."
Lightyear was released in theaters on June 17 and serves as somewhat of an origin story to the 1995 film Toy Story, which was starred Tom Hanks as Woody and Allen as Buzz Lightyear.
The film has been a source of controversy in recent weeks, such as actress Patricia Heaton criticizing the film before the release for not involving Allen. The movie has also prompted headlines on social media over reactions to a same-gender kiss.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Lightyear received an underwhelming $50.6 million, coming in at second place behind Jurassic World Dominion when it debuted.
